The use of artificial sweeteners in place of sugar for reduction of caloric intake as well as for medical reasons is well known. The artificial sweeteners are used for diabetes and for the treatment of obesity.
Until relatively recently the artificial sweeteners which we used for this purpose were the saccharine and cyclamates. However, the cyclamates have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration and the use of saccharines has also become questionable in recent times.
Attempts have been made to provide natural sweetening agents which are many times sweeter than ordinary sugar, namely sucrose.
Among the natural sweetening agents are neohesperidine dihydrochalcone and naringin dihydrochalcone, as well as salts thereof such as sodium salt and calcium salt, which are obtained from grapefruit rind. These substances are from about 3 to 10 times as sweet as saccharine, e.g. as much as 2,000 times as sweet as sugar. However, despite this tremendously high degree of sweetness, the substances, including their salts, have until now only been usable as flavor enhancers because the sweetening effect thereof is not the same as natural sugar.
Among the disadvantages of the sweetening taste of these substances is that the same have an aftertaste which is somewhat mentholated in taste, for example, something like a mouthwash. Furthermore, the sweetness characteristic when the substance is used is somewhat delayed so that the person using the substance does not have the feeling of natural sweetness. Still further, because of the extreme sweetness thereof it is practically impossible to use these substances in the sufficiently small quantity necessary to achieve sweetness without oversweetening.